SDLP’s McKevitt: ‘Government programme is glossy but empty’ | Latest Newry News, Newry Sport and Newry Business for Newry City

SDLP’s McKevitt: ‘Government programme is glossy but empty’

SDLP South Down MLA Karen McKevitt said her party voted against the DUP/Sinn Fein Programme for Government (PfG) which lacks both detail and ambition and doesn’t provide a safety net for the most vulnerable in our society.

She said “The Programme for Government looks good with 60 pages full of glossy pictures and 82 ‘commitments’ which are really just promises, but when you look for the detail there is very little there. It does not meet the real and urgent needs of people here and it is not what our local businesses crave and deserve.”

“It appears to have been crafted to facilitate the cuts agenda on welfare reform which was sent over from London, and signals that these two parties have accepted the Tory onslaught on the poor. In particular it rows back from previous commitments on child poverty, which it totally unacceptable when we have so many children living in deprivation in our communities.”

She concluded by saying, “North-South opportunities have been ignored including cost savings and improved services through collaboration on health and opportunities to boost business while creating jobs in the agri-food, energy and renewable sectors. The targets for job creation are also inadequate – it would be great if they actually do create the 25,000 jobs they promise but we have more than 60,000 on the dole.”

Short URL: https://newrytimes.com/?p=8969

Posted by on Mar 22 2012. Filed under Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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